A JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RELIGION PUBLISHED TWICE A YEAR AT HARRIS MANCHESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD, ENGLAND

The Latest Issue

The Spring and Summer 2017 issue of Faith and Freedom (volume 70 Part 1, Number 184) is now available. It has a striking picture of an Eagle Owl taken from an engraving by Thomas Bewick's 1797 book Land Birds on the cover.

In this new issue we are again delighted to have some really fascinating articles. These include Phillip Hewett outlining his research in pre- and post-Communist Poland for his book Racovia. He compares his experiences in Poland with those of Earl Morse Wilbur decades earlier. We are delighted to have too Johnston McMaster's in-depth examination of Francis Hutcheson and the Social Vision of Eighteenth-Century Radical Presbyterians and Stephen Lingwood's timely consideration of a . Dan C. West discusses the way faith can cross boundaries and make connections and Howard Oliver discusses The Art and Theology of Thomas Bewick.

Faith and Freedom is always particularly strong in its reviews section and we are delighted to once again welcome some important reviews by top writers.

With the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses in mind, Professor Ian Hazlett, leading Reformation scholar and former Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Glasgow, reviews Scott H. Hendrix's Yale University Press book Martin Luther Visionary Reformer. Professor David Williams reviews Yuval Noah Harari's newest book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow and Philippe Sands' East West Street: on the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity. Lena Cockroft reviews Dan Hotchkiss' Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership, which is a major contribution to the theory of church administration. Marcus Braybrooke, Joint President of the World Congress of Faiths, looks at Main Religions of the Modern World and the Two Forms of any Religion by Antony Fernando, and Frank Walker reviews Emmanuel Carrere's extraordinary and controversial novel The Kingdom.

The Autumn and Winter 2016 issue of Faith and Freedom (Volume 69 part 2, Number 183) is now available.

It features a picture of a fourteenth-century carved figure of a pilgrim in Chester Cathedral on its cover. In it leading expert on Welsh poet-priest R.S. Thomas, Professor John McEllhenney, discusses the poet's annotations of Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology and Theology of Culture. Interpretation of Tillich also features in Plinio de Goes' examination of the theology of 'fashionable rebel pastor' Jay Bakker and his Revolution Church. Jay Bakker is the son of the notorious TV evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker but rejected their kind of style and developed a different type of church identified as 'hipster Christianity'. We also carry the full text of Tehmina Kazi's keynote address to the 2016 Unitarian GA, she is the former Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy and now works for the Cork Equal and Sustainable Communities Alliance. Yvonne Craig, a retired social worker and former JP, gives some careful thought to the question to false accusations of sexual abuse in 'Blaming, Naming, Shaming and Biblical Justice'. Katharine Parsons discusses 'God and the Problem of Language' and Barrie Needham unpacks the novels of Marilynne Robinson. There are also accounts from Alan Ruston and David Wykes of the events marking the 300th anniversary of the death of Dr Daniel Williams.

Faith and Freedom is always very strong in its reviews and this issue has Bob Janis-Dillon on refugees and asylum, Maud Robinson on Quaker views of assisted dying, Ernest Baker on Benjamin Franklin in London, Andrew Hill on Bryan Tully's humanist anthology, and Rosemary Arthur on Bishop John Shelby Spong as well as reviews of Marsilio Ficino, Sue Woolley's new book, Jennifer Kavanagh's Simplicity Made Easy and Alan Ruston's new collection of historical biographies.

The Spring and Summer 2016 issue of Faith and Freedom (Volume 69 Part 1, Number 182)

There's a great deal in it, including Rachel Muers' and Rhiannon Grant's examination of the subtle checks and balances of Quaker decision-making processes in 'At the Threshold of Community'. Ralph Catts discusses 'Child spiritual development and the role of a liberal church' and Victor Lal gives us the third part of his research on 'The Unitarians of the West and the Brahmo Samajees of the East at Manchester College, Oxford 1896 – 1948'. Indeed the cover picture on the latest issue includes an Indian 15P. stamp dating from 1967 and featuring Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was Upton Lecturer in Comparative Religion, Manchester College, Oxford, from 1929 to 1930, later becoming President of India between 1962 and 1967. Dan C. West discusses 'The Emerging Church' and Susan Fogarty examines questions of 'Faith Tourism' in the context of poet and Welsh Anglican minister R.S. Thomas. Mark Adair's paper 'Once upon a time' takes as its starting point a line of dialogue from the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles: ""Everything is not an anecdote. You have to discriminate… Here's a good idea: have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener…""

With reviews by Martin Fitzpatrick, Marcus Braybrooke, Pat Frankish, Rosemary Arthur, Lena Cockroft, and Iain Brown there's much that will interest any reader on a whole range of subjects.

The Autumn and Winter 2015 issue of Faith and Freedom (Volume 68 Part 2, Number 181):

This issue contains a highly pertinent article by leading US Catholic theologian John Navone Finding God in Strangers, and an examination of the way we read Mark's gospel by author and UU minister George Kimmich Beach. Yvonne Craig give s personal reflection on Grace and Disgrace: A Social Pilgrimage and two articles are reflective of the centenary of the First World War with the editor's account of the Rev Percival Godding's experience as a prisoner of war and Evelyn Taylor's discussion of the impact of the war on Manchester College. The College also features in the second part of Victor Lal's research onto the Brahmo Samaj and Oxford, and short and illuminating articles are provided by Barrie Needham and Sue Norton. As well as this there are stimulating reviews by, among others, Pat Frankish, Ernest Baker, Peter B. Godfrey, and Lena Cockroft, and a review article on Sarah Shaw's The Spirit of Buddhist Meditation (Yale University Press) written by Graham Murphy.